Macallan Scotch invited me to a tasting last week, and before they’d even finished the question I was like YES YES OK YES PLEASE.
The event was held in a tastefully-lit room filled with an assortment of delectable cheese and my friend Steve.
The above photo depicts Steve, not cheese.
Although I see how that could be confusing.
All varieties of this scotch are aged for years, which is funny when you think of the time in terms of pop culture.
A twelve-year old scotch was first distilled while There’s Something About Mary was out in theatres and Celine Dion’s My Heart Will Go On was causing headaches everywhere.
An eight-year old scotch remembers the first Spider-Man movie.
An eighteen year old scotch was just a wee babby when Kris Kross was makin’ us all Jump-Jump and Whitney Houston promised to Always Love Me (she totally has not followed through on that, though. Just saying).
Some things I learned:
1.
Macallan ages its scotch in casks that originally held Spanish sherry. Using second-hand barrels isn’t a budget-cutting tactic; the sherry residue actually adds complexity to the scotch, and in fact Macallan subsidizes the production of Spanish sherry well beyond its real-world market demand, simply because the byproduct of sherry production is ideal scotch-casks.
2.
The best way to sniff scotch is to inhale through your nose, but with your mouth slightly open. While having a slack jaw might make you look a little simple-minded, it also allows you to taste the aromatics instead of just blowtorching your sinuses with volatile aclohol.
3.
Old scotch tastes reeeallly good with dark chocolate.
4.
I took horrible photos of everything. Exhibit A:
According to my photographic record, the event was held on top of a jackhammer during a laser show and also all the people were melting.
All the good-looking photos used in this post were grabbed from the professional photos on the Macallan Canada Facebook page.
Not really something I learned, but bears mentioning.
5.
After tasting five kinds of scotch, I care waaay less if it’s cold outside.
6.
Finally, I dropped by the Tuesday Night Special comedy show at the Drake after the tasting, where I learned that scotch tastings can make comedy shows extra-hilarious as well.
Thanks to Matchstick and the Macallan Canada for a fun night.
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Posted by stampy 
